My Garden Blog: A website to document the challenge of growing a variety of perennials in a northern Canadian climate. I post plenty of pictures of my gardening projects and welcome comments. La Ronge, Saskatchewan is in Zone 1b (USDA zone 2a), sitting on the Canadian shield at 55° 06' N latitude, 105° 16' W longitude.

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Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Digital Garden Renovation

There is a patch of flowerbed alongside our driveway that reminds me of a perpetual bad hair day. I spend a lot of time pondering what to do with this awful patch. I don't want to dig it up entirely, since it contains many spring bulbs which are just getting established as good clumps.

I need some larger plants with interesting textures to cover up the dying foliage of the early spring bulbs (mostly Siberian squill). The new plants can't clash with the dwarf lilac to the right, which I just tolerate. The cedar (Thuja) on the left has put strong fibrous roots through this whole area which make life difficult for many plants that have tried but failed to live here. The cedar shades this spot in the morning, so the plants just get afternoon sun. I used my newly updated Realtime Landscaping Pro 5 program (PC) to get some ideas for new plants in this spot. Here is the proposed design:The large central planting is a pale/yellow leaf Japanese barberry. Around it are Brunnera, white flowering begonias, a hosta, a green leaf coral bells (Heuchera), and another Campanula carpatica "Blue clips", since that plant already lives here and thrives in these conditions. I threw in a chives behind the barberry, since that plant thrives anywhere. Click on the photo for a closer image. As an aside, here is my favourite columbine in the garden this year. I believe it is one of the "Songbird mix" plants I started last year. I bought the seeds from Swallowtail garden seeds, from whom I have bought many seeds and always been happy. I like this columbine because of the color, long spurs, and upwards-facing blooms. A real winner. Now I need more good pink columbines...

6 comments:

Very cool software. Did it suggest the plants to you? Do you have sources to purchase all those plants? (I always hate it when I get my heart set on a plant I find online, but it's nowhere to be found when I try to purchase it locally.)

The software allows searching of their database by plant type (tree, shrub, annual, perennial) and zone. It also gives the size of the plant. Of course, lots of the plants would work best in warmer climates (perfect for California) but I can figure out what works for me (not the tropical plants). You can also add any plant you have a photo of, if you wish. The database has images of lots of named cultivars too. The pictures I can make look so realistic too! The program works quite smoothly and would be perfect were I to leave my dayjob to be a landscape designer!

Nice to hear the features of this software! I'm sure it will be useful for home building planning. I'm also planning a renovation for our old house's garden. Honestly, I'm not good in choosing plants fit for our home. Maybe a contractor can help me about landscaping and other needs for a garden's renovation.